Out baker and winner of the third season of The Great British Bake Off John Whaite discussed his ongoing body image issues in an interview with UK’s Attitude Magazine. Whaite is currently making history on British television as the first male same-sex pairing on Strictly Come Dancing, the competition series that was the inspiration for Dancing with the Stars.
“I always wanted to be skinny,” John Whaite said in the interview. “I grew up with two sisters and a mum who were always on SlimFast, always on Weight Watchers, always on the Atkins. So, from the age of 12, I was on the Atkins diet. I used to cut carbs out, which for a growing boy, a child, was a very dangerous thing.”
“I am bulimic, you know, I still struggle with that. Even though I go through moments of – not strength, because that’s implying that bulimia isn’t strength, but I go through moments where it doesn’t affect me. [But] every single day is a battle with an eating disorder because it takes over how you see yourself in the morning, it takes over how many times you feel you should go to the gym, what you can or can’t eat. I purposely have certain foods that I’ve restricted still.”
John Waite says he came a long way. However, he told Attitude, his “excessive exercise” habits are connected to his eating disorder.
“Since I’ve started working out more, the amount of gay people I’ve had saying to me, ‘You’ve just become a Muscle Mary.’ One guy said to me, ‘Oh, what a shame you’ve become another gay white gym bunny.’ I’ve always been gay, I always have been white as well, and I’ve always been interested in the gym, but I’ve just started paying more attention to the nutrition,” he said. “I’m not saying that I’m the perfect figure, [that] if anyone’s chunky or too skinny, it’s bad.”
Waite finds himself needing to justify why he is bulking up, and ditching the ‘Twink’ figure of his Bake-Off show days. “I’m doing this because I’ve battled with an eating disorder for 14, 15 years and I’ve finally come to a position where I’m happy being bigger,” he explained.